I've got a buddy who is working as a A/PM on land warrior - he's a straight shooter - we were Rifle PLs & AT PLs in the same companies & XOs in the same BN in the 101st together and staff and company commanders in 1/25th SBCT. He tells me that many of the soldiers using the kit really like it - its helped them do their job better. He - goes over and embeds with the unit - so he's done Iraq as a CO CDR once, and he's back over on his third trip as the A/PM - he told me the initial system was not suited to the soldier - so they let the soldiers tell them what they wanted - and guess what - it started to get used.

Now, I've mentioned this before about digital tech at the BN & Below level - but I've found it very useful myself - both in training and in combat. I was about as on the outside looking in as you could be on the battlefield as en embedded advisor - having digital comms - such as BFT made coordinating KWs and other types of help far easier - particularly when the FM nets that others are monitoring are choked up.

If we can provide the soldier something that is small enough and light enough to provide us his location and perhaps some information on his vitals - we should absolutely do it. Isolation is a MF - and #### happens - when an 1114 hit a big IED it blew this guy right out of the truck and down into a gulley choked with weeds - knocked his ass clean out. If somebody would not have seen him - they'd probably not have found him to stop some real bleeding. Another big thing that BFT like tech has provided us is a better chance to not misidentify a friendly as an enemy - at the platform level. If we can get that down to the individual - I'm for that too - I've seen folks on the same team shoot at each other - some were lucky, others not so much. People behind cover, or masked by walls don't always look so friendly - and #### just happens.

I'll gladly tell an anxious staff officer or even a higher echelon CDR to stand by while I sort stuff out, or if he's totally off base and won't listen then I'll ignore him. I'll gladly make that trade (between having to be more abrasive on the radio & not having a useful tool) if it helps me do my job better, and get my folks through the mission. The inability to see down to the individual will not stop a pain in the ass from being a pain in the ass. Now having said all that I want my tech small, reliable, I don't want tumors when I retire from running it while on AD, I want a say in how it comes, and I want to be useful, I want it mostly wireless - I don't want it to take any longer putting on my IBA. I want it user friendly - meaning I don't want to have to make more time to train on it then I would my MBITR - etc. I think the PM/APM for Land Warrior are trying to do this.

Best , Rob